09/01/2026
PhD candidate Anya Franks and MS.c graduate (2024) Scott Ford publish their co-first authored paper, "Chorismate and isochorismate turnover reveal hidden dynamics of aromatic metabolism in Arabidopsis leaves" in the journal The Plant Cell!
Anya and Scott developed a new mass spectrometry method to track chorismate metabolism in Arabidopsis. Their findings reveal that chorismate remains in chloroplasts until converted to isochorismate, which forms a large cytosolic reserve supporting plant defense. This work reshapes understanding of aromatic metabolite trafficking and pathogen response.
Congratulations, Anya and Scott!
Read the paper: https://doi.org/10.1093/plcell/koag251
Full summary:
The shikimate pathway provides precursors for synthesizing aromatic compounds in plants and bacteria, including the three aromatic amino acids. The product of this metabolic sequence, chorismate, is the last common intermediate in the synthesis of thousands of primary and secondary metabolites. In plants, the metabolism of aromatic compounds involves exchange of intermediates between multiple subcellular compartments, but the details have remained elusive. Here, first authors Anya Franks and Scott Ford describe a new mass spectrometry method to study the synthesis and turnover of chorismate in the model plant Arabidopsis. Using stable isotope labeling, they confirmed that chorismate is present exclusively in the chloroplast, exiting this compartment only after conversion to isochorismate, a precursor to the plant defense hormone salicylic acid. They further showed that this store of isochorismate in the cytosol is far larger than anticipated, providing an aromatic carbon reserve for defensive metabolism when the plant is attacked by pathogens. This significant revision to the field redefines how we think about the trafficking and turnover of aromatic metabolites in plant cells and offers a new model for understanding how plants respond to pathogen attack. This highly novel and fundamental contribution was published in the prestigious journal The Plant Cell.
